At Rochester farm, horses bring 'Harmony' to struggling students

Friday

About a half mile inside the Rochester town line, where meandering Marion Road emerges from the trees into an opening of fences and front yards lies Harmony Farms.

About a half mile inside the Rochester town line, where meandering Marion Road emerges from the trees into an opening of fences and front yards lies Harmony Farms.

About 25 miles north in Middleboro, near a bend in a Taunton River, rests the campus of the Chamberlain International School, a 37-year-old therapeutic boarding school.

For an hour, maybe several minutes more, every Wednesday, they come together astride horses.

This is a program 26 years in the making, one created and stoked by the gale-force wind that is Margie Rose. This is equestrian studies. This is the calm in Rose's frenetic storm.

Rose arrives, a bundle of words and energy clutching a pair of Dunkin' Donuts cups and apologizing for not having brought more. Years ago, after a childhood spent in Fairhaven and New Bedford, then 19-year-old Rose started at the Chamberlain school in 1986, when she says they had just 15 students. She's held many positions over the years. Now, she calls herself an associate.

"She's the renaissance woman of Chamberlain," describes one of her co-workers.

Having grown up riding horses, Rose immediately started the equestrian studies elective — then just called "horses" — and has been running it ever since. The program started at Pine Hill Farm with instructor Jeanne Cosgrove, and continued with Cosgrove when she left Pine Hill and started her own facility. When Cosgrove moved to New Hampshire three years ago, she recommended Laurie Buler take the reins, so to say.

For her part, Buler, a registered CNA who works in home health care and opened Harmony Farms seven years ago, admits to having been concerned and intimidated at the outset, but has settled into a comfortable role as an instructor alongside her aides, husband, George, and daughter, Katie.

That's key, because behavior is much of what this program is about. Chamberlain, which now educates more than 100 students, is a school for students who, according to its website, "are faced with challenges academically and/or emotionally that have made it difficult for them to succeed in a more traditional school setting."

But you'd be hard-pressed to know that on this chilly Wednesday afternoon. A light snow from the night before is laid out like icing on a sheet cake. Four horses, varying equally in size and color, patiently wait tied to a long, wooden fence. Beside them are four young men and women, brushes working feverishly.

There's curly-haired Emma, who has been riding since September; petite Isabelle who just started in November after five years away from riding; articulate and thoughtful Ben who has been riding for a year-and-a-half; and resident expert Jean, who competes in English style and has been coming to Harmony Farms for more than a year.

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One of the lasting lessons taught at Harmony Farms is the causal link between responsibility and opportunity. Before a single boot slips a stirrup, the four students are tacking, cleaning hooves and toting saddles. When it rains or if the cold becomes unbearable ("We don't cancel very often, we're like the Post Office," Rose says) they'll muck stalls. It's dirty work. It's responsibility, coupled with serenity.

"They love it here," Rose says. "It's such a calming feeling. They will step on the farm and feel relaxed."

"Sometimes," says Emma, "I come up here and I'm upset. But when I see the horses and how fluffy they are, I calm down. I always look forward to it."

Emma was aboard the largest horse, Melody, on this day, and she's one of the newest members.

In separate conversations, Nicole Schomburg, Rose and Buler all cite her as heartening evidence of the effectiveness of the program.

"When she first got on a horse she was really interested, but she was so scared," Schomburg said. "First it was getting on the horse, then it was walking around a couple times. I think within the next week she tacked on and got on by herself and could ride independently. A lot of kids face their anxiety and they overcome that and it's a small achievement in their life."

As she is saying this, Emma chirps out in excitement. She has successfully inserted a bit into her horse's mouth. It's a small moment that results in a bigger sense of achievement.

*****

Each Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Chamberlain, classes cease for the day, and the afternoons arrive filled with elective courses. There's automotive and visual arts, Asian studies and geocaching, aviation and soccer. One of the most popular is equestrian studies.

"This is one of the cool ones," Schomburg jokes.

And one that appeals to a wide range of students. Ben is known for his varied interests. He's in the Aviation Club and on the crew team. He started equestrian last July and has grown close to two horses, Apache and Cheyenne.

"I have a connection with this one," he says, as Cheyenne nuzzles him. He looks over at their instructor, who is leading Isabelle around a smaller pen. "Laurie's a great person, whether it's having a conversation with her — even if it's not about horses — she's just fun and goes out of her way to do stuff for us."

Excitedly, Ben talks about his love of animals and how much he's learned. After a quiet moment, he starts speaking again.

"It's just wonderful," he says. "It's calm and peaceful. It's like you forget about everything. You get on and whatever happened at school today, whatever happened at home last night, it disappears."

Jean can't help see it helping herself and her classmates.

"It's really nice because it shows people can overcome fears and nervousness," she says. "I have to do that and seeing others do it gives me hope."

*****

Hope. Calm. Relaxing. Confidence. Teamwork. Therapeutic. Some words sound rapidly around this program. When they come from the kids the program, with no improvement to sell and no business to promote, they ring truer.

"I love horses and I've come such a long way," says Isabelle. "I like riding because it builds my confidence."

"Sometimes we see completely different kids here than we do in the classroom," Schomburg says.

"A lot of them have never been exposed to this," Rose finishes. "There's so many things it entails. They get things out of it that you wouldn't even believe, things you never would have thought of it. To be able to accomplish something that you never thought you could."

One of the highlights of the program comes in the summer, when the simple hour-a-week sessions expand into four-hour excursions on Thursdays and Fridays, following three days of class. With more hours afforded, the class often sets out on trail rides, rustling through blooming meadows and past placid ponds.

"It's so beautiful," Schomburg says. "It's therapeutic even for me."

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